How to Disable Google’s Social Search Features

Today Google announced that it has integrated its social network Google+ with its search engine. While this could be a welcomed update for many, others might not want to see personal content appearing in search results.

Personal Results – one of three new features – enables you to find relevant Google+ posts, such as photos or links, from friends within search results. These specific results are only visible to you and cannot be seen by anyone else performing the same search. Additionally relevant Google+ Profiles and Pages can also turn up in search results.

If you’d prefer to keep your Google+ content separate from web search, this post will explain how you can disable Google’s Personal Results feature.

To get started, visit Google.com and search for something. Logged in Google+ users will probably see a page similar to this:

At the top of the page – find the green arrow in the screenshot above – there are two buttons that let you toggle between web results and Google+ results. If the button with a person on it is shaded, that means you’re accepting Google+ results. Click on the Earth button to change it back to standard web results and no Google+ posts, photos, or links will appear.

If you’d like a more permanent change, you can adjust your search settings so that web results become your default preference. Currently the default option wasn’t available to us – it’s possible that Google is still rolling out the update and these features should appear soon.

All of these settings can be reversed at any time should you wish to start mixing Google+ and web content in your search results.

Jennifer Beese: Jennifer Beese has worked as a community manager and social media strategist. When she’s not writing, you can find her studying anatomy and physiology—she literally has a skeleton in her closet—or under the stars with her telescope.